Monday, February 7, 2011

Well, it has been a great while since I have posted anything on here. Frankly, it has been a long while since I have been able to post anything on here. On the 21st of August, my wife and I tied the knot. I had to sell some big favorite 45s to help fund it, which kind of put me into a record-induced depression. The wedding was beautiful and stands as one of the greatest moments in my life, I quickly got over the loss of a hand full of records.July of last year, me and my wife's worst fear was brought to life. On November 4th 2010, our oldest son Ryman Lee Russell was diagnosed with Autism. In the month of July my wife called me ballin' her eyes out, she told me that the family doctor said that Ry was showing some red flags. July to November of last year proved to be the worst period of my life. We quickly saw the red flags that I and others (my wife had prior worries that he was showing signs) always thought were just quirky nuances. I thought that he was just like his dad, usually stuck in his own world and not that into people. In came a torrential downpour of emotions. We were forced to change our lives. We were lost, most importantly my son was lost. We started doing research like crazy, I must have read 50 or so books, read articles, watched documentaries, and put my energy towards contacting the people who could help. Anyway, to make a long story short; my son is now making improvements, he is steeped in therapy and biomedical treatments. We are no longer lost, he is no longer lost. And for the first time in a long time, I feel as if I can give at least an iota of my energy to something besides Autism. So I am bringing this blog back to live. Like most people do, I turned to music to help me deal with my emotions and feelings. I am a huge fan of Tom Waits, the man is a genius. I still shed a tear every time I hear Tom Waits' "Come on up to the House," the whole album is great. His songwriting is on par, if not better than Hank Williams. And this particular tune gives Blind Willie Johnson a run for his spiritual money. This song definitely got me through a really dark scary part of my life.